Visit to Bordeaux France

We chose to travel from Paris to Bordeaux by train, a decision that proved to be both efficient and convenient. The high-speed trains (TGV) connecting these two cities are not only fast and frequent but also offer a cost-effective way to cover the approximately 600-kilometer (370-mile) journey in just two hours. Instead of dealing with the hassles of traffic, navigation, and parking, we were able to sit back, relax, and enjoy the scenic French countryside from the comfort of our seats. The smooth and comfortable ride allowed us to arrive in Bordeaux refreshed and ready to explore.

Another major advantage of taking the train was that it aligned perfectly with our travel strategy—we wanted to avoid renting a car until we were ready to depart Bordeaux. By relying on public transportation, walking, and cycling, we eliminated the need to find parking spaces in the city center and avoided the stress of navigating unfamiliar roads. Bordeaux’s excellent tram and bus system made it easy to reach key attractions, while its compact, pedestrian-friendly layout allowed us to immerse ourselves in the city's charm on foot. Traveling by train not only made our journey more stress-free but also gave us extra time to plan our itinerary, read about Bordeaux’s history, or simply enjoy a moment of relaxation before beginning our adventure in this vibrant wine capital.

Bordeaux is renowned worldwide for its exceptional wines, particularly its red blends. While the region produces a variety of wines, including whites and sweet dessert wines, it's the complex and elegant red Bordeaux that has captured the hearts of wine enthusiasts for centuries.

Key Grape Varieties and Styles

• Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are the two primary grapes used in Bordeaux blends. These varieties, often blended with Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec, create wines with remarkable structure, complexity, and aging potential.
• Left Bank: This region, including Médoc and Graves, produces wines dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, resulting in structured, tannic wines with great aging potential.
• Right Bank: Known for its Merlot-based wines, the Right Bank offers softer, fruitier, and more approachable styles, exemplified by St-Émilion and Pomerol.
• There is an interesting Wikipedia Article that discusses Bordeaux area wines in great detail, click here to read that Wikipedia article.

• From Paris by Train:

  We took a train to Bordeaux from Paris, as they are fast, frequent & cost effective, and because our plans were to avoid renting a car until we were ready to depart Bordeaux. This would simplify all aspects of our visit, as we did not need a parking place nor did we have to worry about driving directions!

  When we were ready to depart Bordeaux, we utilized Auto Europe which was located immediately adjacent to the Bordeaux train station. We've utilized them previously and have had good luck with their cars & service.

  OUIGO operates trains from Paris Montparnasse to Bordeaux St Jean hourly. SNCF also services this route multiple times per day. There are also regional (non-TGV) trains which will make multiple stops and require 3+ hours to make the trip to Bordeaux.

• By Commercial Airlines: Located 10 kilometers west of Bordeaux, the Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport is France's fifth busiest regional airport complex. Over 80 destinations are served by direct flights.
• By Automobile: This would obviously depend upon where you are driving from, ie; from the north you could drive south on the A10. From the west, you could drive on the A89/N89 highways. From the southeast of France, you could drive on the A62 and from the southwest, you could drive on the A63. For example, to drive to Bordeaux from Paris, you would take the A11 and A10 highways, 635 kilometers and approximately six hours of driving time.

This image is a clickable link to a really good video of Bordeaux (from the Lonely Planet Site), just click the image to start the video playing. The video is the property of Lonely Planet and it was included here because it provides a good overview of the city.

We stayed at the Adagio Bordeaux Gambetta in the very heart of Bordeaux, it is a modern and very comfortable hotel. The hotel was air conditioned, which was great from our perspective, as the French heat wave was still going strong.

This is a 4 star rated hotel, located in the heart of Bordeaux, just 2 minutes' walk from Place Gambetta and Bordeaux's old town, close to the Mériadeck business district. Its 111 fully equipped apartments, ranging from 2-person studios to 2-room apartments for 4 people, make this holiday residence a comfortable place to stay for a vacation or business travel.

We spent the afternoon and evening exploring Bordeaux, walking about to get some idea of the city and it's inhabitants - as none of us had ever been there.

Due to our hiking around the city, we were ready for dinner and ate dinner at Le Pizzaiolo, across the plaza from the hotel, and had a very good dinner (and a great bottle of wine). The proximity of the restaurant to our hotel was the original inducement to eat dinner there, but we found that we had made a good choice.

Click here to view their Yelp page where you can find their address, menu, images and other information.

Bordeaux, France has 2,519 food addresses, including 1,374 international restaurants, making it the fifth most diverse city for restaurants. click here to view a Google Search Results list of the most popular restaurants in Bordeaux.

  

The second restaurant image (above) is the property of Aude L. via the Yelp Website. All other images are the property of Just Traveling Thru, LLC unless otherwise noted.

Our game plan called for us to travel to the Dune du Pilat area in order to visit the sand dunes. We discovered during our trip research, that it would be considerably simpler to take the train there from Bordeaux (75 kilometers requiring 1 hour 15 minutes). Doing so would allow us to delay renting a vehicle until later.

Arcachon is daily served by the TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine from Bordeaux and also by the TGV Atlantique from Paris on weekends. We rode here on the train from Bordeaux, and as the bus station is just outside the train station, we started our bus ride to the Dune du Pilat here as well.

The Arcachon Train Station is only a few blocks from the beach along the bay, straight down Rue Molière.

Arcachon is a very popular vacation village, sitting on the shore of the Arcachon Bay, with a beautiful beach, docks for recreational boats, a very nice village center with quite a bit of shopping, and the train station just two blocks from the water - it was a nice interlude while waiting for our train back to Bordeaux.

There is a pedestrian walkway along the Plage d’Arcachon (the main beach) which is tree shaded and is close to a number of small shops and eateries. The pedestrian walkway is only a few blocks from the city center and the main market, Marché d’Arcachon. Like many towns in the area, Arcachon has a fantastic covered market gathering plenty of food stands with local delicacies.

Once our train from Bordeaux arrived at the Gare d'Arcachon, we then had to catch the Bus Baia Line 1 in the direction of Plage de la Salie, and get off at the Dune du Pilat stop, cost was 1€. The bus makes a few stops, but the overall ride was less than 25 minutes.

The Dune du Pilat area is just amazing, you just do not expect to find a massive sand dune on the Atlantic coast of France like this! We suggest that you click the Wikipedia link below and read more about this place.

From our "prior to the trip research", we had already planned a trip via train ride to Arcachon and then via bus to the dune itself. Trains depart Bordeaux every 30 minutes, and it is about an hour ride to Arcachon.

From Arcachon we hopped on a local bus for the ride to Dune du Pilat. The bus stop for the dune is immediately adjacent to the station staircase, to the left of the circle in front of the station.

These pictures should give you just a slight idea of the height of the dune, you can see the Atlantic Ocean way below where we were sitting!

Climbing the dune is quite steep, but they had a wooden staircase to make it easier, built into the side facing away from the Atlantic Ocean. We took the steps up but enjoyed going back down the dune with long sliding strides. The stairs are comprised of 154 steps, with several small platforms to allow people to pass slower climbers. From what we've read, the sand covers the stairs in the winter season, so the community removes the stairs until the next year.

Off in the distance is the Atlantic Ocean, and you get a good idea of how large this pile of sand is when you see how high above the ocean we are.

We had read about this being the largest/tallest sand dune in Europe, and on any Google Map, you can see just how large it is. The dune has a volume of about 60,000,000 m³, measuring around 500 meters wide from east to west and 2.7 km in length from north to south. Its height is currently 110 metres above sea level.

Looking to the north of where we were on the top of the dune, somewhere off in the distance is the village of Arcachon. To the left is the Bay of Biscay, with the Atlantic Ocean further off to the west.

The Arcachon bus costs only one Euro (per person) for each trip to & from Dune du Pilat, so we decided to head back to Arcachon, and explore the village before our train departed for Bordeaux.
Click here to view a Google Images set for the Dune du Pilat.

The following list contains links to all of our other French Destinations & Information Pages, click any link to go to that page.